Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

So it appears that we will have a budget either today or tomorrow. The Governor has given up his search for phantom Republican support and has agreed to sign a slightly modified version of the budget that the Democrats in the Legislature passed a few weeks ago. It is not a pretty picture.

Based on additional revenues that have come to the state so far this year, the budget assumes a very optimistic revenue scenario for the rest of the year. But if the revenue estimates prove unrealistic then there are triggers for additional cuts. These include an additional $100 Million in cuts for both UC and CSU, the possibility of further cuts to K-12 and a further shortening of the school year.

As a result, it is more than conceivable then that both UC and CSU will end up with $750 Million dollars in cuts by the end of the fiscal year.

Brown and the Democrats are talking about putting revenue initiatives on the ballot in November of 2012. The Republicans are sure to counter with attacks on pensions and calls for a strict spending cap. It will be a very difficult election battle and one that everyone needs to attend to.

Indeed, perhaps the only success in this failure is that the Republicans were so zealous in their refusal to consider having an election on Brown's tax extensions (a vote there was no guarantee Brown would carry this fall) that Brown did not give them their demands on pensions and spending caps. The latter in particular would have ensured the decay of governmental services in the state and would have, almost inevitably destroyed what remains of public K-12 education.

Brown has effectively wasted the first 6 months of his second governorship. Rather than taking the opportunity to challenge the status quo and inequalities of California's political economy he helped entrench them even more. The only success here is that the Republicans failed to impose their vision on long-term governmental budgeting. But that isn't much to claim.

Posted by
Michael Meranze

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Updated Below: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Today is the deadline for the Legislature to pass a budget without having their pay frozen. So it seems like that something will emerge by the evening. There is no guarantee that what passes today will actually become the state budget (there is no requirement that Jerry Brown sign it in order to keep his pay from being frozen). But given that the Democrats have decided that the Republicans will not compromise what emerges today will probably be the best that we will see. And it will be pretty bad. Among other likely actions will be another 300 million dollar cut to higher ed (split between UC and CSU) as well as other deferrals. For a quick look at what is on the table today see:

an analysis by the Richard Vedder shop of UT-Austin's recent data dump on faculty productivity, arguing that higher ed's funding problems can be fixed by getting rid of a large number of the least productive faculty

the widely discussed "What's It Worth?" report from Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce that correlated differentials in wages with college majors. It turns out that engineering majors make more than studio artists! Lower wages also unsurprisingly correlate with "womens' work" and with professions that care for and develop people rather than manage money and commodities. Though the study was reviewed in some quarters as a sign that correct market incentives would force students out of their 'fluffy majors" and toward gainful employment, Patt Morrison's disussion with the report's lead author, Anthony Carnevale, and the comments on her web page, suggest instead (1) a backlash against the injustice of the labor market and (2) defenses of those non-technological majors that are directed at forming cultural, social, and historical knowledge, solving social problems, developing personal capabilities, and helping the individual student understand his or her future possibilities in society.

Which brings us to the real star of the show, Richard Arum and Josipa Roska's bookAcademically Adrift, which was widely reviewed a few months ago.